Born in about 1595 in Wöhrden in Holstein, where his father,
a native of Hamburg, had recently been appointed organist, Heinrich Scheidemann
studied between 1611 and 1614 with Sweelinck in Amsterdam. His father had moved
from Wöhrden by 1604 to take the position of organist at the Catharinenkirche
in Hamburg, and the church supported his son’s study, In der Hoffnung, dass er
ein braver Künstler und dereinst ihr Org. werden sollte (in the hope that he
might become a fine artist and some day an organist). When his studies in
Amsterdam came to an end Sweelinck wrote a farewell canon for him, with the
dedication Ter eeren des vromen Jongkmans Henderich Scheijtman, van Hamborgh,
is dit geschreven bij mij, Jan P. Sweelinck, organist tot Amsterdam, op den
12den Novemb. 1614 (For the worthy young man Heinrich Scheidemann of Hamburg
this is written by me, Jan P.Sweelinck, organist of Amsterdam, on 12th November
1614). In the late 1620s, and at least by 1629, he succeeded his father as
organist at the Catharinenkirche, and in 1633 was appointed clerk of the
church, marrying in the following year the daughter of a doctor.

During his years at Hamburg Scheidemann established himself
as an important figure in the world of North German organ music. His pupils
included J.A.Reincken, later his assistant and successor, Werner Fabricius, who
became organist at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, Wolfgang Wessnitzer of Celle,
Jakob Lorentz of the Waisenhaus in Hamburg, and others of contemporary
distinction. He served as a consultant on the construction of new instruments
in Brunswick, Lübeck, Bremen and elsewhere, and saw to the enlargement of his
own instrument at the Catharinenkirche by the organ-builder Gottfried
Fritzsche, with the addition of a Brustwerk to make a four-manual instrument
with the existing Hauptwerk, Rückpositiv, and Oberwerk, pedals and 56 stops. He
died during an epidemic of the plague in Hamburg in 1663, and his widow, in
recognition of her husband’s services, received a pension from the city.

Scheidemann’s important Magnificat settings were discovered
in 1955 by Gustav Fock in a book of organ tablatures at Clausthal-Zellerfeld.
The four organ verses were to be played at Vespers between the sung verses of
the canticle, seemingly, in Hamburg tradition, replacing the third, fifth,
seventh and ninth of these. Scheidemann’s cycle of Magnificat verses uses the
eight psalm tones, two of which are here included. The Magnificat I Toni
presents the psalm tone in the tenor in the first versus. This is elaborated in
the extended second versus, a chorale fantasia, with an ornate upper part of
varied rhythms, with echo effects as it proceeds. The third versus, a chorale
ricercare, is plainer in texture, each voice suggesting the intonation of the
psalm tone as it enters. The setting ends with a fourth versus for the manuals
only. Here the right hand introduces the psalm tone, while the left hand
provides a running counterpoint, moving into a three-part texture.

The rising triad of the fifth psalm tone opens the first
versus of the Magnificat V Toni, with the cantus firmus in the pedals. This
intonation provides the starting-point for the more elaborate chorale fantasia
of the second versus. The psalm tone is heard in the upper part at the
beginning of the third versus, before its entry on the pedals. The same rising
triad is heard in the tenor, the pedals and then the upper part in the chorale
ricercare of the fourth versus.

There are twelve embellished versions of motets by other
composers among Scheidemann’s organ compositions. The origin of one of these is
uncertain, while one is by Hieronymus Praetorius, three by Hassler and seven by
Orlando de Lassus. The first of the two here included of these last, Benedicam
Domino, is a fine example of a form that was still an important element of the
form in organ music of the time. The second is a decorated version of the
five-voice De ore prudentis procedit mel (From the mouth of the wise comes
forth honey) of 1565. The great Franco-Flemish composer Orlando de Lassus, who
died in 1594 after years of service at the Bavarian court in Munich, left a
vast quantity of music, including a very large number of motets. Scheidemann’s
embellishments of these may be seen as a tribute to the earlier composer, and
examples of generally improvised contemporary practice.

The Praeambulum in F major, a characteristic prelude, has a
fugal middle section in which the subject is inverted. The Praeambulum in D
minor, one of six in that key, follows the same form, with a four-voice central
fugal section. The other example of the form included here, the Praeambulum in
G minor, is also in the same form, with an introductory section leading to more
elaborate fugal writing. A further element is heard in the descending chromatic
notes spanning the interval of a fourth, introduced as a later countersubject.
It has been suggested that the Canzona in F major represents the influence of
Frescobaldi, by way of Froberger and Scheidemann’s pupil, Matthias Weckmann,
organist from 1655 at the Hamburg church of St Jacobi. Characteristic of the
Italian form, the work is in three sections, opening in quadruple metre, with a
middle section in 3/2 and an alla breve final section, exploring imitative
textures.

Scheidemann was an important figure in the development of
chorale arrangements, following the example of Sweelinck’s keyboard music.
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (Jesus Christ, our Saviour), the third
arrangement of the chorale, offers two verses, the second greatly elaborated.
Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist (Now we pray the Holy Ghost), again taking a
chorale melody from the Melodeyen-Gesangbuch of 1604, presents the hymn-tune in
ornamented form. Mensch, willst du leben seliglich (Man, wilt thou live
blessed) has the chorale melody played by the pedals but as a tenor in the
first verse. In the second verse the melody, again on the pedals, is in the
bass. In the third it is greatly elaborated in the upper part, to which the
other parts provide an accompaniment, and in the fourth it is heard more
plainly in the upper part. The second version of In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr
(In thee have I hoped, Lord) has the 1560 Strassburg melody in the upper part
in the first verse. The same procedure is largely followed in the second verse,
with a third that offers the chorale in the pedals. In O Gott, wir danken
deiner Güt (O God, we thank thy goodness) the Melodeyen-Gesangbuch chorale is
presented first in the upper part in a lilting 3/2 metre, followed by the
quadruple metre second half of the melody. The same metrical pattern is followed
in the embellished second of the two verses. Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn
(Lord Christ, only Son of God), the second of two arrangements, has the chorale
at first in the upper part, before the entry of the pedals. In the second verse
it is heard in various voices, before the ornamented melody in the upper part,
to which the other parts provide an accompaniment, in the manner of a solo
song.